Order II. PASSERES. 
Tribe IV. Conirostres. 
The fourth Family, 
FRIN GILLIDiE, or Finches, 
contains a numerous series of small, and for the most part showy, birds, that have the Bill short, thick, 
strong, and more or less conic, without emargination at the tip, but generally angular and thick at the 
base. 
d he first Subfamily, 
PLOCEINiE, or Weavers, 
have the Bill strong and conic, with the culmen projecting on the forehead and arched to the tip, 
w hich is entire ; the Wings somewhat rounded, with the first quill remarkably short ; the Legs and 
T °es robust, and strongly scaled ; and the hind toe strong, and nearly as long as the middle toe. 
Textor Ternm .* 
Bill more or less long, conic, broad at its base, laterally compressed, with the basal portion of the 
culmen advancing on the forehead (in some seasons swollen), and curved towards the tip ; the lateral 
margi ns sinuated, and the gonys long and ascending ; the nostrils basal, lateral, naked, and pierced in 
t,le substance of the bill. Wings somewhat rounded, and reaching a little beyond the base of the tail ; 
Vv ith the first quill very short, and the second nearly equalling the third and fourth, which aie 
ingest. Tail moderate, and rather rounded. Tarsi equal in length with the middle toe, robust, and 
strongly scaled. Toes short and strongly scaled, the lateral toes equal, the hind toe equalling the i , 
an d the claws strong and curved. 
Inhabitants of Africa, both North and South, and always found in company with buffaloes, on whose backs it y 
perched, seeking the insects, &c., that live thereon. They also perform the important office of a sentinel 
6se animals are feeding ; and, if the herd are put to the rout, always follow it. 
I T 
' 1 • Alecto Temm. PL col. 446.— Dertro'ides albirostris Swains. 
i) , ^ ' er l Ithrorhynchus A. Smith, 111. S. Afr. Zool. pi. 64. — 
ntalornis nig er A. Smith. 
3. T. dinemelli Horsf.-Rupp. Syst. Uebers. Nord-Ost-Afr. 
t. 30. 
* Th» ■ , . • i i nn „ before 1831, when M. Lesson established his Alecto : 
t nn. v exact date of this genus is unknown, but it was certainly propos g , 
be anterior also to Bubalornis A. Smith (1836) and Dertro'ides of Mr. Swainson ( 8. I ). 
